Over the last 30 years, a large body of national, international, and industry asset management standards and guidelines have been created. Today, the industry continues to struggle with integrating engineering, accounting, and community planning while aligning corporate goals with daily operations and maintenance, planning, budgeting, and delivery activities. Many organizations continue to have their budget and resource allocation entrenched in short-term, historical based budgeting processes. The challenge is how to adopt and sustain asset management practices to meet the demands and expectation of our communities while managing an aging infrastructure asset base. Where do we start and what does it look like? To assist jurisdictions navigate their asset management journey the American Public Works Association (APWA) has developed an interactive Asset Management (AM) Road Map. The AM Road Map is designed to assist communities systematically identify and implement their asset management system. The Asset Management Road Map is structured around ten key asset management themes defined as Road Map stops. Under each of the stops is a library of definitions, examples, and templates that communities can both access and contribute to.
